One of my favourite setups is a Mind Sliver (minus 1d4 to next saving throw) and bonus action quicken DC spell. And if you're a sorcerer then you have access to a metamagic item that gives disadvantage on a target if you use metamagic to cast the spell on them. So - 1d4 and roll at disadvantage. Great for Dominate Monster --- or Fireball if you're a Basic Sorcerer :P
This is great but it eliminates your ability to simply silvery barbs the target if they succeeded the save. Arguably a stronger option, and one which doesn't burn resources unnecessarily in the case of the enemy rolling bad and was going to fail anyway.
Unless of course you have an ally who can reliably barbs during your turn while you can't. Then, well, then this setup makes for nearly gaurenteed enemy failed saves.
Or be a shadow sorc. Hound of Ill Omen grants disadvantage to saves against your spells, so -1d4 from mind sliver, disadvantage from hound of ill omen, and you can still Silvery Barbs.
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Only problem with that is that SB is probably the second-most banned spell in the game; right behind wish. And even then that's only because a sizable chunk of people probably don't even know SB exists (hence they don't ban it). I suspect that, if they did, it would be the most banned spell by far.
That drives me crazy. 90% of that comes from a misunderstanding of the math behind that. It's much weaker than a lot of other spells and class features. It's basically 1 instance of disadvantage and 1 instance of advantage. People see advantage/disadvantage and get stars in their eyes without realizing it's not *that* powerful. It's good, but not supreme. The internet uses a quick rule of thumb of adding or subtracting 3 from a dice roll for that. You know what gets you almost there at a cost of 0 resources? Mind sliver averaging 2.5 loss from a saving throw. You know what gets you far more than that with a cheaper resource than a spell slot? Eloquence bards' unsettling words with an average of 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, and 6.5 loss from a saving throw depending on level. Divination wizards also obviously get a more powerful feature, but with a higher resource cost.
Silvery barbs is a good spell. But there are other spells and features that are far more overpowered than silvery barbs.
To the original post though. The best use cases I can think of are 8 hour duration spells that you upcast to the highest spell slot you have before a long rest, then have it and all your spell slots when you wake up. Summoning spells are also good candidates... especially if you want to put the summons in a planar binding since they *technically* won't last long enough to complete the planar binding if a DM wants to be very precise.
A clockwork soul casting aid at 6th level before bed gets the party 75 extra hitpoints for 8 hours after the long rest at the cost of nothing assuming you saved the spell slot and sorcery points the day before. Metamagic adept a bard and use this for foresight and basically get 2 9th level spells for a big encounter if you know it's coming and can prepare.
The uses *are* niche, but they are also consistently usable. The main problem is the DM will probably start trying to intentionally make you use resources to prevent this or upscale encounters to make it less useful, but that's pretty true for any high visibility ability.
This is great but it eliminates your ability to simply silvery barbs the target if they succeeded the save. Arguably a stronger option, and one which doesn't burn resources unnecessarily in the case of the enemy rolling bad and was going to fail anyway.
Unless of course you have an ally who can reliably barbs during your turn while you can't. Then, well, then this setup makes for nearly gaurenteed enemy failed saves.
I'm probably laughing.
Or be a shadow sorc. Hound of Ill Omen grants disadvantage to saves against your spells, so -1d4 from mind sliver, disadvantage from hound of ill omen, and you can still Silvery Barbs.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Only problem with that is that SB is probably the second-most banned spell in the game; right behind wish. And even then that's only because a sizable chunk of people probably don't even know SB exists (hence they don't ban it). I suspect that, if they did, it would be the most banned spell by far.
That drives me crazy. 90% of that comes from a misunderstanding of the math behind that. It's much weaker than a lot of other spells and class features. It's basically 1 instance of disadvantage and 1 instance of advantage. People see advantage/disadvantage and get stars in their eyes without realizing it's not *that* powerful. It's good, but not supreme. The internet uses a quick rule of thumb of adding or subtracting 3 from a dice roll for that. You know what gets you almost there at a cost of 0 resources? Mind sliver averaging 2.5 loss from a saving throw. You know what gets you far more than that with a cheaper resource than a spell slot? Eloquence bards' unsettling words with an average of 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, and 6.5 loss from a saving throw depending on level. Divination wizards also obviously get a more powerful feature, but with a higher resource cost.
Silvery barbs is a good spell. But there are other spells and features that are far more overpowered than silvery barbs.
To the original post though. The best use cases I can think of are 8 hour duration spells that you upcast to the highest spell slot you have before a long rest, then have it and all your spell slots when you wake up. Summoning spells are also good candidates... especially if you want to put the summons in a planar binding since they *technically* won't last long enough to complete the planar binding if a DM wants to be very precise.
A clockwork soul casting aid at 6th level before bed gets the party 75 extra hitpoints for 8 hours after the long rest at the cost of nothing assuming you saved the spell slot and sorcery points the day before. Metamagic adept a bard and use this for foresight and basically get 2 9th level spells for a big encounter if you know it's coming and can prepare.
The uses *are* niche, but they are also consistently usable. The main problem is the DM will probably start trying to intentionally make you use resources to prevent this or upscale encounters to make it less useful, but that's pretty true for any high visibility ability.
Extended is great for a Divine Soul casting Aid.